Investment Professionals

Benny M. LaRussa, Jr. – Partner

Mr. LaRussa joined Azalea Capital in May 2008 as a Partner in connection with the formation of Azalea Fund III and is actively involved with all of the firm’s investing activities. He has an extensive background owning and operating businesses ranging from financial services to industrial distribution and various consumer packaged goods companies. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Jack’s Family Restaurants, Inc., Cobbs, Allen & Hall, Inc., Security Engineers, Inc., American Pipe and Supply Company, Inc., and First Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of Synovus Financial Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama.

Mr. LaRussa is the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Capital Management, a multi-asset holding company, and Co-founder and Chairman of Fenwick Capital Group, an investment firm focused on consumer packaged goods (which is a co-investor with Azalea II in Spartan Foods of America, Inc.). Prior to these positions, he was a commercial banker with AmSouth Bank (now Regions Bank) and First Commercial Bank in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1991, he co-founded Canterbury Trust Company, Inc., also in Birmingham, which was acquired by Synovus Financial Corporation, a financial services holding company in 1999. He also was a member of the Board of Directors of Bruno’s Inc. for 10 years until the company was sold in 1995.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Mr. LaRussa received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Auburn University in 1982 and a Masters in Public and Private Management from Birmingham-Southern College in 1986. He is a Member of the Board of Directors for St. Vincent’s Hospital Health Systems and a trustee for Birmingham-Southern College, and is active with Juvenile Diabetes and the Monday Morning Quarterback Club.